Photos and notes from our 30 day stay on the Upper West Side of Manhattan....

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Walking Tour of Harlem..... Big Onion Tours

All 4 of us set out for our Harlem Walking Tour with the Big Onion Tour group this morning. We were a bit early (the express subways really zip you around town!) so we had a little extra time to explore the exhibits at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture......also a Public Library.........wonderful photo exhibit in the gallery....... We met the tour right out front of this building (also very convenient to the subway we had just exited). The 30 of us moved fairly easily around the blocks that the tour encompassed.

Abyssinian Baptist Church

These next two photos are from an area called Striver's Row.... just beautiful!

Saint Philip's Episcopal Church

Our guide did an excellent job informing us of the history of the area while blending it with updated information on the neighborhood. As the tour entered the area on 125th Street where it was quite crowded it became a bit harder to hear... trucks, buses, etc. .... but we certainly gained knowledge about the area. The tour concluded at the Apollo Theater. There the guide was careful not to step on the toes of any tours that might be conducted within the theater by other operators. After giving people advice on how to return to Manhattan or other parts of the city the tour concluded.

Our visit was not quite finished..... we did wander inside the theater and were allowed a peak into the main stage area by a friendly security guard. But, the highlight of our visit to the lobby was the brief view into the life of this historic theater by a man named Billy Mitchell ( he leads tours and they would no doubt be wonderful!) ...... He told a few tales and while pointing out some famous faces on posters he would break out into song to remind us of the entertainer portrayed on that poster.

So much fun!

Last stop was a visit to Sylvia's on Lenox Avenue..... another yummy lunch.... this time fried chicken with delicious side dishes.